Sustainable Environmental Systems Ltd
SES provides a total environmental service to our clients. Focusing on the waste supply chain, we undertake waste audits to identify the most cost-effective solutions for reducing waste and scrapped products. This most often results in real savings within the first year. Once waste has been reduced SES can then install an ISO14001 Environmental Management System to help further reduce our clients overall environmental impact.
Company details
Find locations served, office locations
- Business Type:
- Service provider
- Industry Type:
- Waste and Recycling - Waste Consulting and Engineering
- Market Focus:
- Internationally (various countries)
This company also provides solutions for other industrial applications.
Please, visit the following links for more info:
About Us
In an ideal world there would be no waste. Nature produces no waste! Nature provides her own recyclers. Every day billions upon billions of microbes are at work devouring all of nature's organic waste.
In an age when carbon levels in soils are declining, man-made atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing and energy resources are declining rapidly, we must seek the most efficient use of our resources including 'waste'.
We can help to maximise the efficiency of your carbon reclamation from composting to anaerobic digestion, to high efficiency energy recovery through gasification/pyrolysis or biomass combustion, depending on the type of waste material.
Working with our EPC and funding partners SES is happy to provide you with assistance in your renewable energy project from start to finish:
- Technology Selection
- Technical and commercial due diligence
- Feasibility studies and project development
- Advanced Conversion Technologies
- Anaerobic Digestion
- Organisation of planning and permitting inc. EIAs
- Project management
- Stakeholder presentations & communications
- Legislation and subsidies
- Supporting new technology entry into the UK
Our Mission: To make society self-sufficient in waste management and eliminate all waste from landfill and incineration.
Processes
Process and technology selection is all about determining the most appropriate processes dependent upon the end products required and the most appropriate technologies for converting the materials to be recovered. This will be dependent upon the available markets for the recovered materials and the local demand for energy.
- Waste Reduction for Quick Start improvements in your company's 'bottom line'.
- Clean dry source separated organic materials lend themselves to either open windrow or in-vessel composting.
- Wet organic materials lend themselves to Anaerobic Digestion (AD).
- Dry calorific materials lend themselves to gasification or pyrolysis depending on their nature.
Pyrolysis of biodegradable material tends to result in a large amount of char production. If the processed feedstock is clean source separated material, this char can be used as a long-term source of soil organic carbon, a very valuable resource or if the processed material is from mixed waste then the char can be used as a filter carbon, carbon black or charcoal for industrial furnaces or gasifiers.
All of the above factors need to be taken into consideration when determining the most efficient use of the materials upon which to build your business plan to deliver bankable financial returns.
Due Diligence
SES staff have conducted technical, financial and project due diligence on a variety of Waste to Energy, composting and anaerobic digestion technologies.
From gasification/pyrolysis to biomass combustion, to in-vessel composting and AD, our staff have a wide knowledge base upon which to draw to support our clients.
We also provide preliminary technology advice to EPC companies, accountancy firms and funding institutions to prevent costly use of time and resources on proposals that will never be able to deliver on their promises, either through bad choice of technology or over optimistic performance predictions.
Outline of a typical Due Dilgence review for an EPC contract
- Technology DD and risk assessment.
- Environmental and planning compliance with local legislation.
- Technology providers’ ability to service a back-to-back technology guarantee over the entire EPC period. Review: turnover; P&L; forward order book; company financial standing from previous 3 years company accounts; any Parent Company Guarantee; Performance Bond etc.
- Client's financial standing. Review: turnover; P&L; previous 3 year’s company accounts, forward order book.
- Project long term commercial viability (dependent upon terms of the EPC wrap).
Where appropriate we enlist specialist input from our legal and accountancy partners to provide peace of mind throughout the whole due diligence process.
Funding
Project funding can at first seem either easy or impossible.
The first thing to recognise is that it is not easy, you can't just go to your local bank and ask for £Xm to fund what, to you, would appear to be a sure fire winner. Most local banks do not have the experienced staff to evaluate such a business plan, nor do they normally think in the sums of money that are required for typical 50,000 - 200,000 waste to energy projects. Your project will need funding by specialist banking departments or other funding institutions, many of which are located in the City of London banking area.
SES has developed close links with many City banks and funders that have a ready appetite for Waste to Energy and biomass energy projects.
However, before your project can be presented to potential funders they will want to receive a properly structured Business Plan (BP) and Financial Model (FM). They will also want to know that the company that has been set up to run the venture is appropriately structured and has all the required legal contracts in place or at least finalised ready for signature. This includes: a site with planning permission; contracted waste streams; off-take contracts for all output materials; and Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). They will also want to know that preliminary discussions have been undertaken with the Environment Agency to licence the site once operational.
The funding institutions will also look for a guarantee that the project will get built, commissioned and deliver according to the predicted performance criteria used to build the FM. This is typically provided by a large Engineer, Procure and Construct (EPC) company with very large turnover in the region of £1bn or greater per year. SES partner with a multi-billion dollar EPC company based in the UK and the USA but with experience worldwide.
SES and our partners have many years of structuring projects for financing both in the UK and overseas. We also have experience of alternative ways of funding using the project's assets which can considerably improve the early years' cash-flows. We also work with insurance companies that can structure insurance wraps to reduce the funders risk exposure.
We will be happy to prepare your project for funding, see steps 1-5 of Projects and to then introduce the project to our various funding partners once we are happy with its structuring.
Projects
From Owners Engineer to Consulting Engineer, from technology due diligence (DD) to Financial DD, SES delivers value beyond engineering, supporting projects at each stage of the journey.
Our strategic alliance with supply and installation companies and a multi-billion dollar EPC engineering and construction company enables SES to guide you through the whole project development process from your initial concept to final build-out and commissioning. Respected legal partnerships ensure that the project is correctly structured for funding by our collaborating banks and funding institutions.
1. Pre-Feasibility Study
A high level initial appraisal to quickly evaluate project viability:
- Site appraisal and selection
- Suggest suitable technologies
- Consideration of CHP and district heating
- Initial economic appraisal
- Review Government subsidies
- Indentify regulatory framework
- Waste stream review and recycling study
2. Feasibility Study
High level evaluation of identified technologies and supplier companies:
- Refined list of technologies
- Desktop DD of technologies
- Issue technology performance questionnaires
- Conduct company economic reviews
- High level Cap Ex and OpEx budgets
- Produce weighted technology selection matrix
- Shortlist technology providers
- Identify environmental constraints
3. Contractual Due Diligence
Detailed review of manufacturer and operational facilities:
- Site visit to manufacturer
- Reference site visit
- Review of manufacturing standards
- Verification of operational Mass-Energy balance
- Refined CapEx and OpEx budgets
- Environmental DD
4. Preliminary Economic Forecasts
Funders initial economic model:
- Carbon footprinting
- Preliminary economic performance forecast
- Indicative P&Ls, cashflows and DSCRs for funding
- Indicative IRRs for equity partners
- Introduction to funding institutions
5. Corporate Legal Advice
Our bank recognised legal associates produce contracts acceptable to senior debt providers:
- Equity and JV partnership agreements
- Feedstock supply agreements
- Power purchase agreements
- Heat supply agreements
- Funding terms and agreements
6. Outline Designs
Design preparation for planning:
- Outline structural designs by our design partners
- 3D models and photo montages
- Initial construction budgets
- Initial equipment budgets
- Spatial planning and design optimisation
- Noise and nuisance modelling and mitigation
7. Planning and Permitting
Preparation of the planning application:
- EIA screening and scoping
- Preparation of EIA and ES
- Landscape and visual impact assessment
- Stakeholder engagement
- Planning statement
- Environmental permitting
- Inquiry evidence documentation
8. Fundraising
Presentation to major funding institutions:
- Detailed economic forecasts
- Business plan
- Introduction to funders
- In principal funding agreements
- Financial DD
9. Front-End Engineering Design (FEED)
In partnership with a multi-billion dollar EPC construction and engineering company we undertake detailed design for construction and procurement:
- Structural engineering
- Process engineering
- Landscape architecture
- Highways and transportation
- Detailed geotech
- Heat & Power systems and infrastructure
10. Procurement Specification
Develop full procurement specifications and receive bids from established supply chain:
- Procurement specifications
- Invitations to tender
- Tender evaluations
11. CDM
- Client’s CDM coordinator
- Review construction plan
- Health & Safety review
- Maintain Health & Safety file
12. Project Management
- Establish project timeline
- Determine critical path
- Project tracking
- Stagegate reviews
- Final sign off
13. Commissioning/Acceptance Trials
- Performance modelling & verification
- Performance optimisation
- Compliance with acceptance criteria
14. Operation and Maintenance
- Training of operating team
- Comparison with predicted performance
- Maintenance scheduling
- Re-optimisation of performance